Football Season Guide

Sturm have had a rather disappointing 2015/16 season, and the negativity surrounding the club can only increase following a summer window that saw them lose a list of players that could easily be used to assemble a rather strong starting lineup. Most of the players departure were not caused by the club's choice, with a particular disappointment being the Blackies' inability to prolong the stay of Donis Avdijaj, their arguably most talented player, who is back with parent club Schalke now. However, not all is grim as, to their credit, Sturm have made a number of rather interesting signings - Philipp Huspek, Deni Alar and Fabian Koch are all proven Bundesliga players, while German Bundesliga veteran Christian Schultz is as high-profile a signing as any made by an Austrian club this summer and is expected to become the new leader of their defence. Moreover, Simon Piesinger is expected to soon make a full recovery from the injury that caused him to miss the entire second half of the previous season and will be akin to a new signing, while Sturm fans will be excited by the emergence of Bright Edomwonyi, who has had an impressive second half to the season and will now be expected to kick on. Of course, it might be difficult for the Grazers to gel following all the changes that they have had during the course of the summer, but they still have their experienced manager Franco Foda and their squad definitely has some potential to it. If Edomwonyi continues his rise and the new signings gel, the Grazers could be genuine candidates for a European place.